Best marathon: 2:23:57 (2007, St. George). Won the Top of Utah Marathon twice (2003,2004). Won the USATF LDR circuit in Utah in 2006.

Draper Days 5 K 15:37 (2004)

Did not know this until June 2012, but it turned out that I've been running with spina bifida occulta in L-4 vertebra my entire life, which explains the odd looking form, struggles with the top end speed, and the poor running economy (cannot break 16:00 in 5 K without pushing the VO2 max past 75).

Short-Term Running Goals:

Qualify for the US Olympic Trials. With the standard of 2:19 on courses with the elevation drop not exceeding 450 feet this is impossible unless I find an uncanny way to compensate for the L-4 defect with my muscles. But I believe in miracles.

Long-Term Running Goals:

2:08 in the marathon. Become a world-class marathoner. This is impossible unless I find a way to fill the hole in L-4 and make it act healthy either by growing the bone or by inserting something artificial that is as good as the bone without breaking anything important around it. Science does not know how to do that yet, so it will take a miracle. But I believe in miracles.

Personal:

I was born in 1973. Grew up in Moscow, Russia. Started running in 1984 and so far have never missed more than 3 consecutive days. Joined the LDS Church in 1992, and came to Provo, Utah in 1993 to attend BYU. Served an LDS mission from 1994-96 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Got married soon after I got back. My wife Sarah and I are parents of nine children: Benjamin, Jenny, Julia, Joseph, Jacob, William, Stephen, Matthew, Mary, and Bella. We home school our children.

I am a software engineer/computer programmer/hacker whatever you want to call it, and I am currently working for RedX. Aside from the Fast Running Blog, I have another project to create a device that is a good friend for a fast runner. I called it Fast Running Friend.

Favorite Quote:

...if we are to have faith like Enoch and Elijah we must believe what they believed, know what they knew, and live as they lived.

Usual run, kids did usual distances - except I think Jenny was on reduced mileage due to sore throat. Had Joseph repeat his failed workout from yesterday with better results - he was able to close with 6:48.

In the evening Jenny and Julia played in the first day of the Utah Junior High Chess Championship. Both won 2 games each, and lost 1 each.

Today was the second day of the Utah Junior High Chess Championship. So I had to get creative to get my run done. I got up at 5 AM and ran 12 miles with a tempo for the last 6 before driving Jenny and Julia to the tournament. Julia won 2 games today and lost 1. Jenny won 1 and lost 2. After the tournament I ran 1 mile with Julia, and 1 with Jenny - Jenny ran 1 more. Benjamin in the meantime ran a total of 12 at home with 4 with Joseph and Jacob (1 with William), and finished the whole thing with a 4 mile tempo in 22:41. I also ran the regular 0.5 with Stephen.

Total of 12. Benjamin did a shake-the-cobwebs 800 time trial on the track at Orem High in 2:08.9. 0.7 slower than his PR from the fall, but I was happy with the result as he did it off no speed training - only tempo runs - I would have been happy with anything under 2:10 at this point. The next step is to bring his 800 to 2:03 or as close as we can - we will work on that over the next couple of weeks.

Jacob did 3, Joseph 4 with the last mile hard in 6:53. Other kids ran usual distances.

I wanted to see if Joseph and Jacob could break 30:00 on our hilly out and back 4 mile course - well, I knew they could, I just wanted to see how hard they would have to work to do it. For motivation I told them they get each two fruit snacks. They did it without much of a problem - Joseph ran 28:43, Jacob 28:52.

Leg 1:Distance9.100Time1:10:03.20Pace7:41.89

With Benjamin.

Leg 2:Distance4.000Time28:52.50Pace7:13.12

With Joseph and Jacob. The splits were 7:19, 7:28, 6:56, then 7:09 for Jacob and 7:00 for Joseph for the last mile.

Did a workout with Benjamin today. 4x400 down the canyon with about 400 recovery, a few times a bit more. Benjamin did 59.8, 62.3, 62.3, and 61.9. I got 69.9, 71.4, 69.9, and 70.5. Usual runs for the other children.

Today was the day of the Utah Elementary Chess Championship, so we had to get creative to get the runs done. I ran 12 early in the morning with the last 6 miles as a tempo run. Benjamin did 12 with the last 4 in 22:09 from the canyon back to the house. Jenny did her usual 4. Julia did just 1 mile. Joseph and Jacob did 2. William did 1. Stephen did 0.6.

On the chess front, Julia got 5 points out of 6 - 5 wins, 1 loss, 4th place in 6th grade. Joseph, Jacob, and William each got 3 points - Joseph got 2 draws, 2 wins, 2 losses, Jacob the same, and William 3 wins, 3 losses. I need to work with Joseph and Jacob on winning won games - Joseph stalemated a won game once, Jacob twice.

Leg 1:Distance6.000Time46:03.70Pace7:40.62

Warm-up.

Leg 2:Distance6.000Time35:45.20Pace5:57.53

Tempo run. It was dark and I had a hard time going fast.

Leg 3:Distance0.200Time2:01.70Pace10:08.50

With Stephen to the car.

Leg 4:Distance0.200Time2:17.80Pace11:29.00

With Stephen to the car again.

Leg 5:Distance0.400Time2:52.30Pace7:10.75

To the car and back alone.

Leg 6:Distance0.200Time2:01.50Pace10:07.50

To the car with William and Stephen.

Leg 7:Distance1.000Time8:12.80Pace8:12.80

With Julia on the Utah State track.

Leg 8:Distance1.000Time8:30.90Pace8:30.90

On the track, first 0.75 with William, the rest to catch up to Joseph and Jacob - I tried but could not catch them.

Workout with Benjamin - 4x400 down the canyon, easy run with Joseph and Jacob. Benjamin did the first 400 in 61 - he was actually headed for about 58, but his hamstring started cramping, so I had him just go with me today for the remaining 3. Other kids ran their usual distances.

Total of 13. Kids ran their usual distances. Did a workout with Benjamin - 2x100, 400, and 200 down the canyon. Was able to hit 64.5 in the quarter and 31.4 in the 200 shortly after - was quite happy with that.

Leg 1:Distance3.000Time24:19.70Pace8:06.57

With Joseph and Jacob - Jacob had stomach pains so we ran slower than usual.

Total of 13. Usual distances for the kids. Joseph did 4 with a fast finish with the last mile in 6:35 on the out and back stretch by our house. I told him he could have one fruit snack if he ran sub-7:00 and two if sub-6:40 after he had run the first quarter in 1:46. His subsequent quarters were 1:43, 1:37, and 1:29.

Total of 20. Benjamin did 12, we did a tempo run down the canyon from Bridal Veil falls to the house for his last 6 in 34:09. Joseph and Jacob did 4, William 1, Stephen 0.5, Jenny 4, Julia 3.

Leg 1:Distance6.000Time48:40.40Pace8:06.73

Warm-up with Benjamin.

Leg 2:Distance6.000Time34:09.90Pace5:41.65

Tempo run. Was happy with the result, it was a good minute and half faster than my last two attempts. Part of it was having Benjamin pulling me, part from not running at 6 AM and being able to see, and I also felt stronger.

13 total. Kids ran their usual distances. I did a workout with Benjamin down the canyon - 4x200 for me, 4x400 for Benjamin - long rest. I was able to keep all of mine under 32 and even got 30.5 on one of them. Benjamin was not feeling too great, but he held it together in the first 3 - 61.8, 61.7, 60.9, but then plopped to 65 in the last one. He said his heart could not pump well enough in the last 200.

Total of 13. 9 with Benjamin, 4 with Joseph and Jacob. Other kids did their usual distances. Busy day at work with a firewall failure - that was quite exciting. So I had to finish my run in the afternoon and that is when I ran with Joseph and Jacob. They were feeling not quite on top of things and could only manage 6:41 for their fast mile. Probably due to not being used to running in the afternoon.

Total of 13. Did a workout with Benjamin down the canyon. He did 4x400 58.9, 59.8, 59.1, and 61.1 with long recoveries - fastest he has done this so far, and as a landmark he was able to run a sub-4:00 mile in 4 installments for the first time - baby steps towards doing it for real. I did 2x200 + 2x300. Could not keep up with him but tried to stay as close as I could. Details below.

Total of 20. Kids ran their usual distance. Benjamin and I did 8 mile tempo down the canyon. Joseph and Jacob did a time trial at Orem High track. Joseph did 2000, Jacob ran the first mile with him. Both got PRs. Joseph did 7:35.4 improving by 4 seconds from last fall, Jacob got 6:05.7 improving his PR from last fall by 5 seconds. He says he wants a guinea pig when he breaks 6:00 - we are 5.7 seconds away from that, and so far it looks like he will do it before he turns 9. He turns 9 in July.

Their splits were not ideal - 85,93,94,91 - and then 91 for the last lap for Joseph. We will try again with more even pacing and see if this gets Jacob under 6:00.

13 total. Kids ran their usual distances. For our family home evening we did running while hula hooping - well, Joseph and Julia did while the rest of us watched. Joseph did 100 meters in 50 seconds. Julia made it to about 70 meters in 54 before she dropped it.

Benjamin did 800 meter time trial at Orem High track today in 2:06.7 - a new PR by 1.5 seconds. The splits were 31.3, 31.8, 32.8, and 30.8. Very even and a strong kick. He said he felt the pace was not as strenuous as before but he had a hard time overriding the governor to go faster.

This was an interesting result from his training in the last couple of weeks, not what I was expecting. His staple workout was 4x400 targeting 60 seconds with long rest. So I was expecting that he would open in 61 and then hang on feeling miserable and run something like 64-65. Instead he pretty much even split it with 63.1, 63.6 and the last 200 being the fastest 200 of the whole thing. His post run recovery was also good, it was perhaps the least taxing 800 he has done in the last year. There was one twist to his training that might have been the cause of this. He did not just do short speed, but also tempo runs at the end of a long run on Saturdays. Now that I am remembering, I had very similar results when I trained like this - the 800 pace was steady.

Now the problem we need to solve is to learn how to go faster in the first lap. I am thinking 500-600 intervals with the mandate to run the first 400 in 60.

Joseph's back was sore from yesterday's hula hooping so I told him to cut it to just 3 miles with Jacob today. Everybody else ran their usual distances.